28/08/2017- Egypt's Daily News reports The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) entrusted the technical supervision of implementing a new monorail’s first phase to the consulting office Khatib & Alami (K&A) with a contract worth EGP 251.3m.

The monorail line is 68 km long, including 61 km on land. It is expected to transport 340,000 passengers per day. The construction and operation costs amount to $1.3bn, including $739m funded by a 20-year Chinese loan a with five-year grace period. Once construction begins, the project will be completed within two years.

The new line is expected to cut down the time to move in the Cairo-Ismailia Road by 30%. It will also impact traffic and save around EGP 2.3bn per year.

Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly said in previous remarks that the line begins from Salam City and aims to connect Greater Cairo with the eastern suburbs of the city, along with Sharqeya governorate. It is expected to begin operating in 2020.

The contracts are with the Northern Bangkok Monorail Co. Ltd. (NBM) and the Eastern Bangkok Monorail Co. Ltd. (EBM), who will be responsible for the turnkey construction and 30-year concession of the new elevated lines which will improve the commute for over 400,000 people and visitors every day.

The contract with NBM concerns the new 34.5 km Khae Rai-MinBuri (Pink) Line to operate with 42 train sets and EBM’s contract comprises 30 trainsets for the 30.4 km Lat Phrao-Samrong (Yellow) Line.

The contracts also include providing the project management, systems engineering and integration, testing, and commissioning for the new trains and systems.

21/03/2017 - An interesting piece by International Monorail Association President, Carlos Banchik, on the incosistencies applied to evaluation of monorail systems and highway projects by local authorities in the US. I'm sure the same 'bias' is given to road projects here in the UK

21/03/2017- It is with sadness that we hear of the passing of Kim Pedersen on January 24th at the age of 64. Kim was the founder and driving force behind The Monorail Society. Due to Kim's hard work and dedication, the society boasts over 7000 members worldwide. The most enthusiastic advocate of monorail, his contribution to promoting awareness of monorail transport systems cannot be overststated. As a source of information, the Monorail Society website (www.monorails.org) is unrivalled.

In the early days of setting up WestOx Monorail, Kim was happy to assist and provide sound advice.

We send our condolences to Kim's family at this sad time.

06/01/2017 -Wuhu, China.A variety of Chinese media outlets are reporting that the Wuhu municipal government has approved two monorail lines across the city.Line 1 will run 30.4 km have 24 stations. Line 2 will be 16.5 kilometers long with 12 stations The Wuhu government signed a monorail vehicle procurement contract with CRRC Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems. CRRC Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems is a 50-50 joint venture between Bombardier and CRRC. According to online reports from China, construction has already commenced.

(courtesy of The Monorail Society)

28/12/2016 - Cebu, Phillipines.A group of Canadian, Chinese and Filipino investors have expressed interest in building a monorail for Metro Cebu and met with some local officials to float their idea. One of their selling points is that because a monorail’s columns will be much slimmer, hardly any road right-of-way problems can be expected.A representative of the group said the monorail is the long-term solution for the traffic in Mandaue, Cebu City and the whole Metro Cebu since this has several advantages compared to the light rail transit (LRT) and metro rail transit (MRT).In a press conference, Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, who served as the Mandaue acting mayor, expressed his appreciation for the monorail project. “Compared to LRT, it is more cost-efficient and aesthetically better,” Fortuna said. Based on the project overview of the investment group, the monorail can run on a slim concrete beam, with turning radius of 46 meters, not like MRT/LRT that has a turning radius of 200 to 300 meters. “The advantage of monorail is that the support column is only 1.22 meters diameter spaced apart every 20 to 36 meters. Because of this there will be minimal or no right of way requirement as the size of the support column is only the size of the average center island.”

(http://www.sunstar.com.ph)

07/12/2016 -Bankok, Thailand. Two new commuter rail extensions confirmed. Both the Pink and Yellow lines will be monorail built by a private-public partnership including the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand. Sources say that Bombardier may be the supplier of 308 INNOVIA Monorail 300 train cars for the project. Both lines are over 30km in length. The MRTA said it chose to build monorail instead of heavy rail lines because it would have a lower environmental impact and cost slightly less. Official contract signing is expected in 2017.

(http://www.khaosodenglish.com)

Great video of the construction of the 'Marconi Express' in Bologna, Italy. Strictly speaking, the Intamin system is a People Mover rather than a monorail. However, if it is a viable solution for Italy, why not for the UK?